Before meeting the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night, Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens told a television broadcaster he had barely slept in the previous 48 hours.

The insomnia could have been due to a disappointing loss to Milwaukee in Boston’s previous outing, or maybe Stevens just did not want to have nightmares of the Pistons frontcourt.

The bad dreams – if he had any – became reality Sunday. The Celtics declined to surrender after an ugly first two quarters, but a spirited second half was not enough to overcome the Big, Bad Pistons. Boston went scoreless over the final 2:14 en route to a tough loss at the Palace at Auburn Hills, 87-77.

In the first half, the Celtics (0-3) were not just outplayed – they were physically dominated, cast aside, treated like an annoying and much smaller sibling. It all felt a little bit like the Mighty Ducks’ exhbition hockey game at Eden Hall – when, as the JV team, they lost to the varsity something like 9-0, getting hip-checked and obliterated throughout.

I imagine Stevens probably did not call for the Bash Brothers or remind his players that ducks fly together. But a few minutes into the third quarter – after the Pistons built a 15-point lead – Boston seemed to collectively decide “we won’t allow dunks or layups on every possession if we force turnovers instead.”

Either that, or a combination of Detroit carelessness and increased Celtics pressure changed the course of the game. In the quarter, Boston fought size with energy, forced nine turnovers, held its own on the glass (for a drastic change), and erased almost all of the aforementioned Detroit advantage.

Down just five entering the fourth, the Celtics began the period with a 7-0 run to pull ahead, 65-63. But as Chinua Achebe might have mentioned in his novel, things can fall apart. Detroit answered with 10 straight points while the Celtics went scoreless over the next four minutes. Bradley eventually ended that drought, but Boston still trailed 77-67 with 4:57 left.

The Celtics rattled off a quick 10-2 run, pulling within two points on another Bradley jumper with 2:14 left. But they turned over the basketball on their next three possessions, then had a fourth end with Gerald Wallace getting blocked on a corner 3-pointer. The Pistons took advantage of the mistakes by scoring the game’s final eight points, pulling away for the win.

At halftime, the Pistons were 0-for-6 from the 3-point arc but still led, 45-35. Greg Monroe, Josh Smith and Andre Drummond had already managed 26 points and 15 rebounds between them, matching the Celtics on the glass all by themselves. The trio – led by Drummond’s 15 points and 12 rebounds – combined for 45 points and 29 rebounds for the game.

Rookie Kelly Olynyk had his best game yet to lead the Celtics with 15 points and eight rebounds. Bradley started 1-for-8 but came alive in the second half, finishing 6-for-14 with 13 points and eight rebounds. His six turnovers led an ugly Celtics ball-handling performance; the team had 23 turnovers, including four in the final two minutes.

The Celtics put together a much better rebounding effort after halftime, turning a 26-15 deficit on the glass into a more acceptable 44-37 disadvantage.

Jordan Crawford (13 points) also managed to reach double-figures for Boston. Jeff Green did not come off the bench during the fourth quarter.